Clericism: An Elucidation

There's something about the sentient mind that compels it to worship the fantastic. Mysteries in particular seem to encourage this kind of behavior in intelligent life, even that which seems like it should know better. After all, it's a lot easier on the brain to claim that bright light moving strangely through the sky is Ishtar, the goddess of love and war, instead of the planet (usually) nearest to our own.

What's more, this exaltation of the existence and machinations of fanciful entities generates a sort of spectral energy. Fueled by this energy, the beings so idolized grow more powerful still, manifesting astounding capabilities that most associate with the divine. Thus, it is the worshiper that creates their gods, not the other way around - but don't let any immortals hear you say that!

Moreover, this channel of faith is a two-way street. Because they generally wish to concentrate on other matters, divine beings often empower their most loyal and effective followers to handle the day-to-day care of their flock. This empowering occasionally comes in the form of supernatural powers, but most often it involves granting one's priests the knowledge to cast spells in their name.

The Cleric

Clerics are spellcasters who receive the knowledge to wield magic directly from their divine patron(s). Unlike other wizards, who must study hard and practice diligently to master their sorcery, a cleric immediately attains such mastery at the whim of their liege. This can be when they prove their worth, after a certain duration of service, or even as a reward for some great service performed.

The most ardent advocates for a deity, or perhaps an entire pantheon of such, clerics are far more important to their gods than mere priests. In addition to the usual responsibilities ordinary priests bear, a cleric can tangibly demonstrate magic entrusted to them by the divine, thus making them examples to others. Furthermore, clerics represent their god's will made manifest when acting on the world at large.

A deity's clerics are constantly 'on the clock', but are only occasionally called upon to perform special tasks. These may involve undertaking quests, working against the clerics of rival gods, defending the faithful (and the precious faith they generate), or even inexplicable jobs that make no sense whatsoever. Ultimately, anything a deity asks of their cleric is to further their ends - and usually that of their followers.

Mythological Preeminence

When creating a cleric, it is vital to choose a deity that aligns with the capabilities one foresees them possessing. The followers of a storm god are more likely to receive loud, ostentatious spells than those which involve subtle trickery, for example. In other words, the ultimate authority over whether or not a cleric can learn a certain spell is whatever deity they happen to venerate.

The Judge is the final arbiter of what does and does not fit a god's bag of tricks, and if that god does not wish their follower to learn a spell, they simply won't reveal the knowledge required to do so. The reason for this is the simple fact that whenever clerics go 'off message', they risk generating the wrong kind of faith for their patron, which is usually more trouble than it is worth.

Clerics can generally learn school spells without any problem, along with whatever spells fit with their immortal sponsor's theme. Anything questionable, but not diametrically opposed to their god's mythological portfolio, can often be approved after the completion of a special task or another. Mind you, clerics are encouraged to avoid showing off such abilities for the most part, at least as much as is possible.

Give and Take

Much of a cleric's time and effort is occupied in service to the deity the worship, performing duties both mundane and incredible to further their agendas, and this expenditure of blood, sweat, and tears isn't without reward. Deities strive to keep their clerics happy, as granting them the knowledge to cast spells expends some of the faith they've accumulated, and they try to retain that investment for as long as they can.

As such, clerics benefit from being able to receive a new spell from their god before spending the Karma normally necessary to master it. Clerics can only do this with one spell at a time, but they can simply make Karma payments, as they earn it, to secure each new spell. The Karma cost works out the same in the long run, but this at least gives clerics a bit of a jump on other sorcerers in the short term.

Furthermore, clerics may rarely receive bolstered spell ranks, if not entirely new spells, without paying any Karma for them whatsoever. Deities reserve such boons for their most faithful and effective devotees, as the cost for this improvement in their magic also subtracts from their reserves of faith. However, this is another way gods can reward followers who go above and beyond in their service.

It helps to keep them from wandering off into the graces of another deity, as well.

The Jeopardy of Apostasy

Should a cleric cast off the yoke of their religion, either to embrace another or to simply reject the divine altogether, their former patrons are somewhat out of luck. Faith invested in clerics to reveal spellcasting knowledge to them is lost forever, for one cannot erase something from a sentient mind. Sure, that knowledge can be removed from one's conscious awareness, but it's always in there somewhere.

Furthermore, should that cleric begin to venerate a different deity upon abandoning their previous liege, that expended power will be utilized in service to their new god, instead! This usually prompts immortals to dispatch minions to slay clerics who have made fresh religious arrangements, because a) they tend to be vengeful in general, and b) their continued existence disrupts the intake of more faith.

That being said, a deity can usually withdraw any supernatural powers, ability score enhancements, or spell rank boosts they have invested within their subjects, whether current or otherwise. This is often why immortals, when they aren't sure they want a follower to retain certain abilities indefinitely, grant them as powers in lieu of spellcasting knowledge. It's a sort of insurance against bad followers!

The Lugal: A Sample Clericist

While enough flavor has been provided to allow for the creation of clericists, those strange intersections of wizardry, religion, and deities, it can be tricky to put together a complete picture in one's head how to express such magic wielders; not everyone grew up role-playing such characters, after all! Thus, a sample cleric is generated below, occasionally using random rolls provided by the 13's digital dice.

Determining the Lugal's Basic Abilities

Before I even think about spells and a divine patron for this character, I'll start with their ability scores. I rolled 82, 38, 61, 90, 19, 61, and 85, which gives them Remarkable (30) Fighting, Good (10) Agility and Strength, Excellent (20) Endurance and Reason, Incredible (40) Intuition, and Amazing (50) Psyche. Even before gambles, this is quite impressive for an unpowered human.

That makes attempting gambles a bit tricky, but I already have a vague notion of where I'm going with this cleric, so I opt to gamble on the 'easy' tables, where Agility and Reason are concerned. Dice rolls of 65 and 04 give me a +2 CS and a +0 CS, respectively, so this character's Agility will increase to Remarkable (30), but their Reason will be staying put at a 'mere' Excellent (20) rank.

With ability scores locked in, we add up the rank numbers of Fighting, Agility, Strength, and Endurance to come up with 90 Health, and then do the same for Reason, Intuition, and Psyche to arrive at a Karma sum of 110. A roll of 16 grants this character Poor (4) Resources, while their Popularity will remain at zero (0), since that is what new characters will generally start out with anyway.

Determining the Lugal's Magical Abilities

As I already know I am building a cleric, I skip table 3, and roll 52 on table 4. This gives our new cleric four spells with which to begin play. Since clerical magic does not have a 'critical' spell to speak of, random die rolls will suffice here. I then roll a 28 and a 00, indicating the school spell of Regeneration / Others, which isn't quite a direct heal, but can still handily support the faithful.

Rolls of 73 and 96 point us towards the dimensional spell Vampirism, which occupies two slots. Vampirism is handy in that it can be used to both drain and grant Health, even if it has the potential for serious side effects. The only problem, though, is that this character already has a healing ability, so in order to make the picture forming in my head work, I will drop the Regeneration / Others.

Subsequent rolls of 71 and 25 reveal the Dimensional Transit spell, while die results of 44 and 87 give us Sleep. That's an odd combination of melee menace, travel power, and crowd control, but since we're talking a spellcasting priest, this can be rationalized, especially if we go with the notion that this character is a proponent of an entire pantheon of gods, not just a singular deity.

Determining the Lugal's Magical Appliance

As do all wielders of wizardry, this new cleric is allowed one power housed within an ensorcelled object. With the character's three spells in mind, I decide something ranged would be ideal for this character. After all, their physical and mental ability scores seem to be top notch, so that is really the only thing that seems to be missing from them at this point in time.

Thus, the tried and true Eldritch Bolt is invoked here. I decide that this will come in the form of a Sunblade of Shamash, a short sword that I just made up, which can be used to hurl bolts of solar plasma at whoever it is that has irked the ire of its bearer. This requires an aggressive motion in order to avoid triggering the spell accidentally, and thus it is activated upon swinging the blade in a wide arc.

Quantifying the Lugal's Magical Arsenal

We now have three spells and one magical object for our cleric-to-be, so let's figure out how effective they are! Die rolls of 46, 80, 76, and 22 on table D provides for Remarkable (30) ranked Vampirism, Amazing (50) ranked Dimensional Transit and Sleep, and Excellent (20) ranked Eldritch Bolts via the previously mentioned Sunblade of Shamash, which is raised +2 CS for its strong portable limitation, to Incredible (40).

With four magical effects in hand, this character is allowed two gambles, one of which I will place on Vampirism, and the other on the material strength of the Sunblade, based on the usual m.s. for a magic item. Rolling 37 on the 'easy' table, I manage to bolster Vampirism by +1 CS, to Incredible (40), and 66 on the 'traditional' table, raising the m.s. of the Sunblade of Shamash to an impressive Monstrous (75).

Determining the Lugal's Background Information

Quirks aren't mandatory, but I like to add them - so I will. A roll of 58 and 17 points me towards an Allergy, which I decide will be to cold damage, thus inflicting a -2 CS penalty on whatever ability or power is used to resist it. A 69 and a 53 points towards Charmed, which will make this cleric very popular with their allies, what with it randomly providing them good luck while they are present.

Though I didn't have a plan for this character's background before I started rolling, one sort of jelled as the process continued. Thus, I sort of know what talents this character should have. I nonetheless have to roll for the amount of such, and a 49 says four will be available. As I am simply choosing, I opt for Archaeology, Languages / English and Sumerian, Skill / Swords, and Theology.

A roll of 79 grants this cleric five starting contacts (or contact slots, at least). The first will be their mystic mentor, which I will take at level 2. Furthermore, I will need a Languages expert for the obscure, dead tongues the character can utilize, a level 1 mentor who trains them in the fine art of swordplay, and the last I will leave floating for the time being.

Determining the Lugal's Origin Story

A student of history, Edgar was most interested in the origins of human civilization. Studying the period generally considered the beginning of recorded history, Edgar felt compelled to see what was left of this period in person. Journeying to the remains of Uruk, a city founded more than seven thousand years ago, Edgar found himself in the archaeological site studying the Anu ziggurat.

There was only one person currently on site, who Edgar expressed his deep appreciation for and curiosity regarding the area. Little did Edgar know at the time that he'd met Ilabrat, the sukkal of mighty Anu himself! Though his master had long drifted into obscurity, Ilabrat thought Edgar would be a great means by which he could share Anu's glory with the world anew, and revealed his true self to Edgar!

Taking him to heavenly Ubshukkina, as the land formerly known as Sumer was no longer safe for such study, Ilabrat indoctrinated Edgar into the mysteries of the Anunnaki, which his fascinated mind could not drink up fast enough. Eventually returning to our plane of existence to spread the word of Anu, Edgar abandoned his old life to found the Ziggurati, a religious organization he leads as the Lugal!

Clericism Spells

Though clerics can learn any conventional spells that fit the theological principles of their deity or deities of choice, the truth is that a large portion of their job description entails tending to their patron's flock. As such, the knowledge to cast clerical school spells is often imparted to an immortal's followers in order to prop up their worshippers - or to work against the followers of other gods.

A blessing can be used to impart divine good will upon (or into) a target. When used on a living being, this ability will provide a +1 CS to any action attempted by the target, whether he or she is making (or avoiding) attacks, wielding (or resisting) powers, or anything else. Blessings do not add to a character's damage, but do make it a whole lot easier for them to succeed in their endeavors.

When used in such a manner, a blessing will last for a number of turns equal to its power rank number. For example, the recipient of an Amazing (50) ranked blessing will retain the bonuses imparted for 50 turns - five full minutes! Only one blessing can affect a target at a time, but there is nothing preventing multiple blessings being used on a target; if one expires, the second will suddenly kick in for the remainder of its own duration.

Bless can also be used on inanimate objects, as well. By showering an item with deific favor, a character can grant it a +1 CS on both the hit rolls a person wielding it will attempt, as well as the damage it will cause. Blessed items remain blessed for the same duration as characters, but the duration of a blessing does not start counting this time down until the item is actually used.

For example, a sword can be blessed by the Amazing (50) ranked power above and then sheathed, its fifty turns of blessing not expiring until it is wielded in combat. There is no limit to the amount of time that this deific power may sit idle; one may be adventuring and find an object that has been blessed thousands of years ago - which can be a letdown when its seemingly 'amazing' potential degrades after a short while!

Casting the commune spell, clerics may attempt to speak directly with what they worship. A simple spell FEAT roll is made to open a channel to communicate with one's patron(s), allowing the priest to query said patron(s) in regards to just about anything. This can be a great way to acquire information when all else fails, as entities of great power often have access to avenues of data that mere mortals can only dream of.

The trick is getting their attention.

You see, the great powers of the multiverse are used to being petitioned for all kinds of things all the time, and often have an entourage of minions to deal with this sort of hassle. Some handle dispersing the gods' powers to various followers, some listen for prayers and such, and still others answer the questions asked by pesky priests. This frees said entities from 'mundane' matters to do... whatever it is they do.

Sometimes, casting commune will get a god's attention directly, but most often such queries will simply fall into the hands of its underlings. And said underlings, while they serve the same power as the cleric, often have their own agendas. They may answer in riddles or other cryptic fashions, or just give incomplete answers. They'll never deceive a priest of their master, but they're not necessarily very helpful.

For many things, this is sufficient. A cleric may only need the answer to a question that isn't too difficult to handle (such as 'are there people hiding on the other side of that door?'). On the other hand, a priest may need a much more important question answered, and wants to cut out the middle-men in the process. This can be done by making a sacrifice to his or her patron entity - the bigger the better!

One can boost the effective rank of this spell depending on just how inconvenient the sacrifice is to the caster. For instance, giving up one's favorite deck of trick cards to their patron god of gaming may provide a paltry +1 CS, but going to the gambling house of a rival god, fleecing the staff blind, and then sacrificing the proceeds to their deity is much more impressive, and may grant as much as a +4 CS!

The nature of one's relationship with his or her deity will also affect the column one rolls this FEAT on. If the follower has gone out of their way to further the boss' agenda, a considerable positive CS boost may be in order, while if they're 'on the outs' with the powers and principalities, this may be a negative modifier. Once a final CS is settled on, simply make the spell FEAT to determine the nature of the response.

Once the dice have settled, the Judge (acting as your powers that be) will answer the question. The color result of this roll will determine just how useful this answer may be, but the Judge should be careful in balancing the answer against both the character's efforts and the campaign as a whole.

Though, at the same time, the Judge should be sporting. If the player spends an entire adventure preparing a suitable sacrifice for his or her god, that says a lot about how serious he or she is about this effort!

Essentially the opposite of the disease power, one can use cure disease to eradicate harmful micro-organisms in its target. This power only works on physical contact with its subject, at which point its wielder can detect and eliminate any undesirable microbes, viruses, or fungal colonies. This requires a power FEAT roll made against the intensity (if any) of the offending biological invaders.

Upon successful use of this power, the target will be cleansed of such agents, though lingering damage they've caused must be healed normally. This can be done through natural means or with the use of the healing / others or regeneration / others powers. The cure disease power does not count as healing for the purposes of such, since it technically works against the things in one's body, as opposed to their body proper.

This allows the immediate use of healing powers on the cured individual without Endurance penalty.

Furthermore, with all these dead micro-organisms floating around in their body, targets of this power have an improved ability to form an immunity to whatever infections were cured inside them. Though cure disease doesn't instill automatic immunity to plagues, it offers its target a +2 CS to develop it on their own, simulating the effect a normal vaccine has on its recipients.

On the other hand, it's important to note that this ability does not work as well against inorganic invaders of the nanoscopic sort. Cure disease functions at a -2 CS against tiny creatures of the inorganic variety, whether naturally evolved or those that come in the form of atomatons. A powerful enough version of this ability can competently fight such invaders off, but they're much more difficult to combat.

Decontamination works to purify a life form in the event that it is sullied by the taint of anti-life energies. This is most often the case when a body is subjected to one of the various vampiric abilities. With a successful power FEAT roll made against the offending anti-life power, decontamination can prevent the target from rising as an undead itself, whether it was slain by such abilities or just severely weakened.

When wielded against actual undead creatures of any stripe, decontamination inflicts direct Metabolic damage against them, its power acting to literally cancel out the energies that animate such beings. The only down side to this use of the power is that decontamination only works within Very Near range of its possessor, which means one must usually be directly exposed to such entities in order to combat them with it.

A slow but sure means by which one can dismantle their enemies, degeneration causes its target's very body to turn against itself! Should the target of degeneration fail an Endurance (res) FEAT roll against this ability's power rank, they will begin to lose Health points every round as their body breaks down. Degeneration continues for 1d10 turns, plus whatever additional time its wielder spends maintaining its effect.

The specific amount of Health lost is calculated in the same manner as regeneration. In other words, it's a number of Health points equal to the degeneration power rank each minute, or one tenth that sum each turn. For example, a hapless villain afflicted with Amazing (50) rank degeneration will suffer five points of Health loss each turn, for a grand total of fifty if it lasts for a full ten turns!

The victims of degeneration may attempt a new FEAT to resist its deleterious effects, after failing the initial roll, each time they suffer an amount of degeneration damage equal to its power rank number. If out of Health points while under the effects of degeneration, a character must pass an Endurance FEAT as if affected by a Kill result, or will alternately lose a like amount of Negative Health points.

The only time degeneration gets tricky is when its target also possesses regeneration. In the event of such an occurrence, the higher power rank between the two determines if one is stitching themselves back together or tearing themselves apart. Furthermore, the difference between the two powers' rank numbers will determine the rate at which the subsequent regeneration or degeneration is occurring.

On occasion all else fails, and one is simply out of earthly options with which to succeed. When this is the case, a cleric may implore their patron deity for deliverance, and ask him/her/it for a miracle! These miracles can take almost any form, limited only by the scope and nature of the entity of power the cleric serves. Gods of fire are excellent at razing one's foes, for instance.

The miracles provided by the deliverance spell are limited to this spell's rank in effect, but can be far-reaching in scope; the spell itself works within Far distance, and it can affect a rather wide area if necessary - though the effect can be narrowed onto one person, as is the case with miraculous resurrections. Of course, the first thing to consider when casting deliverance is if it will even work in the first place.

In order to receive a miracle from one's patron, a cleric needs to be in good standing with them. Granting a deliverance spell costs a deity some of their hard-earned, belief-based power, so they're not likely to do so lightly. They typically reserve this kind of boon for their most faithful and/or dependable followers, so they won't hand out miracles willy-nilly.

Assuming this is not a problem, the second question is how often does the cleric in question ask for a miracle? On average, it's probably bad form to use this spell more than once per game session, as the deity in question may begin to wonder if this follower is worth the hassle. This is a danger that can be avoided with prodigious sacrifices and other efforts that further the interests of one's patron.

If everything seems in order, it's perfectly all right for a Judge to allow deliverance to, well, deliver the cleric from whatever hassle he or she is currently in. It is important to keep in mind that the deity in question typically won't offer 'services' counter to its nature, no matter how important a cleric may be; death gods don't do resurrections often, nor do gods of love generally smite one's enemies.

Wielding the power of detoxification, its possessor can cleanse a living target - whether themselves or another - of impurities. The toxins so removed can be natural to the body or foreign materials. Thus, with this ability, one can remove fatigue poisons (allowing a person to bypass exhaustion FEAT rolls for a time) or otherwise toxic materials (in order to save someone's life).

The difficulty of such a FEAT depends on how much deleterious material one has inside their body. Green FEATs can take care of minute amounts of toxin (regular or fatigue poisons come to mind), a yellow power FEAT roll is called for with considerable material (critical amounts of cholesterol), and red power FEATs are necessary when overwhelming amounts of foreign material are present (lungs full of sludge).

While it's great against regular chemicals, this ability doesn't work well against invaders of the electromechanical sort. Detoxification functions at a -2 CS against active foreign materials such as molecule-sized robots (atomatons). A powerful enough version of this ability can competently fight such invaders off, but they're much more difficult to combat than inanimate poisons.

A direct attack on the very life force of another, harm allows its wielder to torment, or even kill, others at will. Those targeted by harm are allowed an Endurance (res) FEAT roll against its intensity to shrug off the effect. Failing this, they will directly suffer power rank Metabolic damage as the anti-life energies summoned by harm work to cancel out some (or possibly all) of their own, inherent life force.

Those affected by harm momentarily evince a distressing aura as their bodies are assaulted by anti-life energies. This visible discharge rapidly fades as the living energy of its target, not to mention that of microscopic life forms clinging to their body, is cancelled out by harm's negative power. While excruciating, the effects of harm are only temporary, as long as they don't cause the outright death of their target.

As one can guess from the name of this ability, lie detection involves determining whether or not someone is lying in the course of a conversation. This ability works similar in nature to auscultation, in that it is an entirely passive affair, picking up on the ambient thoughts emitted by the individual being checked for falsehoods. As such, if such a person is not guarding their thoughts, no FEAT roll is required.

However, if the target is in fact aware they're speaking to someone who has this ability (or perhaps just suspects such), he or she may attempt to protect their falsehoods, and may resist lie detection if they can pass a Psyche (will) FEAT roll against this ability's power rank. If the target can succeed in this FEAT roll, the wielder of lie detection cannot determine whether or not a given statement is the truth or a lie.

At least, not through the use of this ability.

As is the case with auscultation, lie detection only works on targets within Very Near distance of its wielder.

By enshrouding themselves within a mortal guise, a character with deific abilities may mask all traces of such from onlookers. This ability is part invisibility and part illusion, for it will make its wielder appear, in the mind of those observing them, to be a perfectly normal individual. This is particularly handy if an immortal being is visually distinct as compared to his or her many followers.

This power works on mortals as well as deific beings. The former, if they do not fail an Intuition (alt) FEAT roll against the deific invisibility power rank, can see the wielder of this power in their 'true' form - but won't sense any deionic powers unless their use is obvious to their standard senses (flashes of light, etc.). Deific beings, if they are not overcome by this power, can perceive its wielder's true nature.

The power of recovery allows its wielder to rapidly replace lost ability and power scores caused by a variety of circumstances, ranging from crippling injuries to power absorption to vampiric attack! The only reduction recovery cannot repair is Endurance loss due to excess healing, as it is considered a healing power itself, and will in fact inflict a -1 CS to one's Endurance if used on them immediately after a healing power.

Other than that minor caveat, recovery will immediately restore a number of lost points in its target's ability scores and/or powers that is equal to the recovery power's rank number. It can operate on as many different wounded ability scores or powers as its wielder likes, either focusing on just one or splitting its effect amongst many. The power can be used on its wielder or anyone else he or she is in contact with.

The power to regenerate others allows its wielder to repair damage suffered by others over time. Instead of a massive, metabolism-taxing burst of healing delivered all at once, this ability will essentially grant others the ability to regenerate while applied to their person. As such, this ability may be used to aid others as often as one likes, avoiding the infliction of Endurance penalties for multiple uses.

When this power is applied to another, they can regenerate a number of lost Health points that is equal to its power rank number each minute. This number can be divided by ten in order to determine how much lost Health one can recover with it on a turn by turn basis. If one wielded this power at Unearthly (100) rank, for example, the target would actually recover ten lost points of Health each turn!

Bear in mind that regeneration does not work if the recipient is suffering continuous damage. In the event of SD damage (potentially caused by rotting attacks and other Metabolic harm), regeneration will not function for a person, even if this power is still applied to them. One must wait out the SD effect or prevent its continued operation before the power will resume functioning for a wounded individual.

Resuscitation is something of an extended first aid power, in that it allows one to revive those who have recently died. A lesser form of resurrection, resuscitation can be used to, well, resuscitate those who have just passed, whether due to injury or illness. Generally, the power can restore the spark of life to its target if used within a number of minutes equal to its power rank number.

The difficulty of restoring life to the recently dead depends on how damaged the body was upon its demise. Green FEATs can resuscitate an intact (or nearly so) body. A yellow FEAT roll is necessary if the body is only partially intact, or suffered severe damage. A red power FEAT can restore life to a body that is mostly gone. In addition to restoring life, resuscitation repairs just enough damage to sustain it.

A resuscitated character resumes life with a maximum number of Health points equal to this power's rank. He or she must then repair any further damage (read: Health and Endurance loss caused by their injuries) in any other way they can. The only problem there is that resuscitation counts as healing for the purposes of metabolic overload, so such powers cannot help for at least twenty four hours after one is resuscitated.

Not safely, at any rate. This is because the resuscitated character, having lost all of their Endurance ranks previous to the use of this power, is resting at Feeble (2) rank Endurance at the moment. The -1 CS Endurance penalty for additional healing might repair more of the damage to their body, but the strain of such may kill them (again) in the process (make another Kill check, this time at Shift 0 rank).